Warriors keep alive hopes for playoff bid

From staff and wire reports

LOS ANGELES » Necessity may be the mother of invention, but it also fathered an improbable victory last night.

The Hawaii men's volleyball team revived its playoff hopes with an uncharacteristic rally, using a makeshift lineup to outlast No. 12 USC at the Galen Center. The 14th-ranked Warriors, getting a career-high 15 kills from freshman Brennon Dyer, stunned the Trojans 30-28, 16-30, 17-30, 32-30, 17-15, to move back into a tie for seventh in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation standings.

The win lifts Hawaii (10-11, 7-9) ahead of USC (10-13, 7-10) by a half-game and into a tie with UC Irvine for the last two playoff berths. For most of the 2 hours and 20 minutes, the Warriors' season looked all but done as the Trojans dominated in easily winning Games 2 and 3.

Hawaii regrouped with a revamped lineup, moving junior setter Sean Carney to the outside and bringing in freshman Nejc Zemljak to set. And Dyer, playing in place of team kill leader Jim Clar (shoulder injury), got better as the night wore on.

Dyer put down two consecutive kills as Hawaii won Game 4 on its fifth swing at game point. The Warriors, 3-3 in Game 5, jumped on the Trojans for leads of 5-1 and 10-7.

Keali'i Frank, who replaced Matt Rawson (shoulder) in Game 3, and Zemjlak blocked Juan Figueroa to give Hawaii its fourth shot to end it. Troy hit wide on his 64th attempt, giving the Warriors their first road win in four away matches.

"It was a strange, strange match," Hawaii coach Mike Wilton said. "And it was one of the most amazing matches I've ever been a part of.

"It was a real nice comeback for this team and showed a lot of character. Sean looked like he was ready to fight a bear, told me he was ready to play anywhere I wanted him to play."

Carney fired up the Warriors with five kills and four blocks. Freshman Joshua Walker steadied out as well, finishing with 14 kills and six blocks.

"Josh really came alive those last two games," Wilton said. "And Dyer got better as the match went on, went from being real tentative to taking big swings.

"Our fans who came to watch us told me they experienced every emotion possible, from wanting to not admit they knew us to complete pride. What a resurrection job."

Troy matched his career high of 32 kills, set in the win over Hawaii a day earlier. Figueroa finished with 27 kills and Bourne 12 kills, 12 digs and three aces.

Hawaii next heads to top-ranked Cal State Northridge for matches Tuesday and Wednesday.